Let's handle our business.
Rushmore of World Series homers. Mazeroski in 1960, Babe famously calling his shot at Wrigley, Kirk Gibson in 1988 and Joe Carter with the Jays.
Rushmore of best female country songs. "Crazy," "Coal Miner's Daughter," "Stand By Your Man," and "Jolene."
Rushmore of SEC hoopsters. (And no I did not say male or female, but the female list would be forever orange, no?) Pistol Pete is farther left than almost any Rushmore we have done in a long time. Shaq and Bernard King, who won shared three SEC POYs and deserves the spot for his flawless turn in "Fast Break" with Gabe Kaplan, which was robbed of an Oscar in the mid-70s. Finally, while I would love to put Chuck, and if Anthony Davis had stayed more than a season, he would have beef, too. Give me Corliss Williamson, who as a bad hombre on a natty winner.
Rushmore of Catherine O'Hara vehicles. "Home Alone" is far left, but "Best in Show" is stout. "Beetlejuice" and "Schitt's Creek" round it out.
Good luck to all the Mocs folks — men and women — in Asheville for the SoCon tourney.
To the bag.
From a slew of you
What did you think of the State of the Union?
Gang,
My thoughts are myriad and far-ranging.
I simply in good conscience or in a normal state of mind can't vote for either of the primary part frontrunners.
Donald Trump is a grifter, a conman who is part cult leader, part Amway salesman and part carnival barker.
I can't support Joe Biden either, because I disagree with too many of his fiscal policies and have a hard time believing the man will last the length of a second term. He would be 86 at the end of a second term, and he's not the sharpest pair of scissors in the kindergarten class as is.
So if Biden wins — and on this current ticket — and is forced to take time away or leave office, that leaves us with Kamala Harris, and that would be a complete and unmitigated disaster.
(Side note: I thought Katie Britt was among the bigger winners of the night in her GOP response to Joe's flow.)
That's my big picture thoughts of last night, because my biggest takeaway was, "Wow, I thought Biden was going to do a lot worse." And that's not a bad thing, but it's not a good thing either, because he was not that impressive to me.
It's akin to the old Lewis Grizzard joke of the "you know you don't sweat much for a fat girl" compliment.
My 1B takeaway was what has happened to decorum and decency. It used to be a big deal when POTUS at the State of the Union would say something partisan and his party would jump to their feet for a standing O and the other side of the aisle would literally sit on their hands.
Now we have hecklers like Tuesday night open mic at the Comedy Catch.
And whether you are pro-Trump or pro-Biden — I am more and more realizing I am pro-America, which is why I doubt I will vote for either of those tickets — we can all agree that North Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene looked like a terrible blend of an escaped patient and the world's worst soccer mom who had two too many margaritas before Satuday's tournament semifinal.
Thoughts?
From John
Jay,
The Oregon basketball court has to be the ugliest in America. I hate watching them on TV. What is your Rushmore of ugliest courts? Does Vandy make it?
Looks like AZ will even you up for tonight.
John,
Oregon's brand is based on brash and ugly, right? From the fighting highlighters to the Nike extremes to everything else, they have become the RuPaul stylists of major college sports.
Bigger picture, the Boise State football field deserves mention here. And isn't there one out that is red, too?
I loathed the NBA in-season tournament courts.
Simple is better, unless you are the Hoosiers header to Cedar Knob — bunch of mites — of course.
If we start with Oregon, Memphis deserves a mention, too. There is too much purple in the Northwestern court, and UCF is closer to Oregon than almost anyone.
I actually like Vandy. As for watching on TV, the camera bay on Oklahoma State games is weirdly positioned.
Thanks my man, and Arizona was one of those picks that felt good from the opening tip.
From JoeDon
JG:
So if the Iditarod musher felt the interference was worthy of drastic measures, the musher must "gut the animal and report the incident ... at the next checkpoint."
Would you like to see a similar rule in-place for NASCAR? Ricky Bobby feels the interference by Cal Naughton Jr. in Turn 1 is worthy of those drastic measures. Ricky shoots and guts Cal on the backstretch of Daytona and reports it in Pit Road.
How about a soccer Red Card? Instead of a penalty shot, the offender is gutted at midfield.
Take a charge in college hoops? The would-be dunker is gutted in the paint.
The political candidate who makes the first unproven mud-sling is gutted on Nov. 5.
I'm liking this new rule.
JoeDon,
Interesting. OK, some of those are a little too extreme for a full gutting. And that's OK. But a lot of NASCAR fans are watching for the possibility of major crashes, so we're on board with that one.
"Shake and Bake."
Maybe losing a digit or even a limb for some of the others.
But if we want a true gutting offense in modern sports that is not even against the rules of the sports, just the rules of decency, common sense and everything that is right and holy under the church.
Start with the QB coach, then go to the OC, then the HC and then the GM/AD, but someone should be gutted every time any football team on fourth-and-1-or-less puts the QB in shotgun.
Period.
As for the candidate, if we gutted mudslingers in this climate, it'd be me, you and Spy holding meetings in the West Wing.
From Spy
I guess seeing Matt Hasselbeck join his brother Tim coaching at Ensworth in Nashville tops the list. Good program. But does that mean we'll be Hasselbeck-less on the Mother Ship this fall?
Didya see Zinger rip into the PGA Tour? OK, Francis, lighten up. The LIV defections have hurt the Tour, but when your overall winner is Talor Gooch, are you still making that much of an impact? And what kind of ratings is LIV generating? Granted, the PIF doesn't exactly need ad revenue. But is there a point where no one watching actually means something? I guess we should ask CNN, huh?
Spy,
Yep, these are our regulars.
Have a great weekend friends.